Rage with the Lingua Mortis Orchestra is by far the best thing on the bill so far.

I like that Wacken starts announcing bands so early. It provides a good barometer for who might be appearing at better festivals next year

Yes and no. Wacken being in August means it usually have a pretty different line up to the one we get attending the festivals in June/July.

That said, Nightwish, Anthrax and Deep Purple are all more or less guaranteed for the June festivals. 2009 since Nightwish and Anthrax did them last, not to mention new albums from both, and its been even longer for Deep Purple.

It's almost a cast-iron guarantee that whatever kind of metal you're into, there's a better festival to go to in Europe. There's probably a better one in Germany.

Oh, definitely true. However it's been on my list of things to cross off my list since I was 13...plus a couple of people I know are likely going next year and it'd be cool to shoot the shit with them.